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Star Trek Continues – but not for much longer

November 5, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

Episode 10 of “Star Trek Continues” is available on the website.

It is the penultimate episode. The last one will be released in a few days – on the 13th of November.

It is very good.

I saw an interview with Vic Mignogna where he said that he thought the fans would be happy with the way the show ends (although fans like me will not be happy that the show has to end so soon!) The second last episode has the highest score on IMDB so far : 9.5 (the previous highest was 9.0).

There is a moment in the show which is astonishing though. So astonishing that I had to pause the video to check what I was seeing.

I mentioned in a recent post how a young Sean Young appeared in BR2049. But that was not astonishing as they had some much money available to achieve the effect.

What astonished me was that the Romulan Commander looked uncannily like the actress from the original series (in the episode “The Enterprise Incident”).

A little bit of research (thanks IMDB) told me that the new actress is Amy Rydell. The previous actress was Joanne Linville. The latter is the real life mother of the former.

What a stroke of genius! I am so impressed!

Here are photos of the two ladies side by side: Joanne is on the left, Amy on the right.

I am very much looking forward to the last episode.

Blade Runner – Is Deckard a Replicant

October 29, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

At some point during the making of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott decided that it would be brilliant if Harrison Ford’s character were a replicant.

Some kind of irony, I suppose, that Deckard was retiring replicants but was a replicant himself without even knowing it.

So he added the unicorn scene in the Director’s Cut so that we could all be let in on the joke.

And then Hampton Fancher, Michael Green, Denis Villeneuve, Harrison Ford and Scott himself became involved in making a sequel. So they had to face this question. Obviously Ford was going to look a lot older in the sequel. So what would that mean?

So the decision they made was to leave the question just as open as it was at the end of the first movie.

But for me (as for Harrison Ford) Deckard was always human. And the unicorn scene was a mistake.

The reason I think Deckard was human was because he was clearly no match for the replicants in combat. He was lucky to survive each encounter with a replicant. He only survived the final encounter with Batty because the latter allowed him to. And he felt pain, as the fight with Batty so clearly illustrated.

And the reason I thought that Deckard should have been human was that he represents us. In his encounters with Rachel. In his encounters with Batty. The movie only makes sense if he is a human experiencing those emotions. Feeling empathy for Batty. Falling in love with Rachel. And Batty chooses to let him live. Not because Deckard is another replicant. But because Deckard is human. When he says “I’ve seen this you people wouldn’t believe” he is referring to “you humans”, in my opinion.

So Ford is right, and Scott is wrong.

And Fancher and Villeneuve (presumably out of respect for Scott) decided not to set the record straight.

Here is the great “Tears in Rain” scene from the original movie.

Blade Runner 2049

October 29, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

So as I mentioned in my last post, I went to see Blade Runner 2049 on the opening night. This posting contains SPOILERS.

It is hard, of course, for a sequel to live up to a classic (the 1982 movie has a score of 8.2 on IMDB and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes). I know (from interviews on YouTube) that Denis Villeneuve was very conscious of this. But he had Hampton Fancher on to write the story, and Ridley Scott on board as Exec Producer, and Harrison Ford on to reprise his role, so he went for it.

The movie has a score of 8.5 on IMDB and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. So they did a lot that was right.

The thing I liked most about the new movie was (of course) the way it looked. They did an amazing job.

I also liked the way they way they extended the questions from the original about what it is to be “real” and what it is to be alive (or “human” as most people seem to say).

The things I liked least were:

The fact that we knew that K was a replicant before we ever entered the cinema (from things we saw him doing in the trailer)
The overly long scene with K, Joi and the prostitute
The role of Niander Wallace in the movie (and the fact that there was no resolution for this at the end of the movie)

The thing which surprised me most was when the young Sean Young made an appearance! I’ll need to watch that again because I was so busy trying to figure out how they did it (and noticing what looked like bad CGI) that I wasn’t paying proper attention to what went on.

One thing I would suggest which would have made the movie better, IMHO, would be to have asked Vangelis to do the soundtrack. They brought everyone else back, why not him! It was particularly obvious to me when they brought some of his music in towards the end.

So overall (like the majority of fans I think) I was very happy with the sequel. It is a good movie and picks up lots of threads from the original.

Blade Runner 2049 – Nearly Here!

October 2, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

There has been lots of publicity recently for the upcoming Blade Runner sequel.

Warner Bros have released a series of trailers, TV spots, shorts and featurettes. And the director and cast are appearing everywhere, notably:

At Comic-Con
On all of the talk shows, including the Graham Norton show last week (Ford and Gosling)

Reviews seem to be generally positive. The Guardian calls it “a gigantic spectacle of pure hallucinatory craziness“. Rotten Tomatoes seems to have 47 reviews and is currently scoring the movie at 96%.

The movies opens this Thursday and I have bought my tickets for my local cinema. Interestingly:

The move will start at 20:49 in the evening
The cost for two tickets (a “Deckard Double”) was €20.49.

Clever!

Can’t wait!

Star Trek Discovery – the wait is over

October 1, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

So the first two episodes of Star Trek Discovery are available on Netflix. I watched them earlier this week.

There had been a lot of negative commentary about the series before it aired so my expectations were low.

Mark Zicree (Mr. Sci-Fi), for example, had a YouTube video called “Klingons are dull” which spoke about problems on the show and speculated that a decision had already been taken that there would only be a single series. It also (as the title indicates) talked about the fact that the Klingons are not the most interested subject (a sentiment I echo – I had no interested whatsoever in TNG episodes that focused on Worf or the Klingons).

So having seen the first two episodes I can say that low expectations were justified.

The things I disliked most – in additional to there being too much about the Klingons of course – were (spoilers ahead):

The opening scene which (a) had no apparent purpose and (b) ended up with the two lead characters making a sign using footprints in sand (what the hell!)
The opening titles are awful. So different from the other series and so poor.
The lack of any chemistry between the crew members. Captain Georgiou and Michael Burnham (the two lead characters) were supposed to have worked together for years and to be very close but there was absolutely no sign of this (other than some of the things which they said)
The actions of Michael Burnham when she commits mutiny (what the hell!)
I can’t believe that they cast Michelle Yeoh as the captain (I was very happy about his, of course, as I’m a big fan) and then allowed her to fight a Klingon where (a) she showed none of her martial arts skills and (b) she was killed! Why would you cast he in this way? Maybe the production team cast her without even seeing “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (what the hell!)
The Klingon ship summoned other ships using “photonic activity”. These ships were light years away presumably and these photos would have been travelling at the speed of light surely!!
The scene where Michael Burnham escapes from the brig (what the hell!)
The bit where the hologram of Sarek sits down on the deck in (what the hell!)

Further to these last three points: I remember how Gene Roddenberry hired scientific advisers in the original series to help to make sure that what they were saying and showing had at least some basis in science. It is clear that no scientific advisors have been hired on the new show.

I have watched some videos where people (including Mr. Sci-Fi) review the two episodes. Marc Zicree, made the following observations:

He said that he didn’t believe most of the words coming out of people’s mouths.
He talks about Georgiou and Burnham beaming over to the Klingon ship and how ridiculous this would be (and against every principle which has been established in previous series!)
He talks about how the episodes seem to be too much based upon “set pieces”.
He also observed that there is no warmth or humour, and no apparent commentary on current issues or events. Other reviewers mentioned that the team has said that the Klingsons are supposed to be based on Trump supporters and they pointed out some very contradictory elements of this supposed analogy

Observations by other reviewers include:

They talk about the clumsy over emphasis on casting female, black, and Asian actors in the lead roles. All of this has been done before in the Star Trek series.
People are particularly critical of the Michael Burnham character and, indeed, the actress. As well as being very poor and very unbelievable, they observe that nothing which happens in the first two episodes allows us to have any empathy for or interest in her. How can see be the central character?
One person noted that the initials for the series are STD and how appropriate this may be!

So I am planning to watch some more episodes (there will only be 15 after all apparently) but I am not expecting much.

Here is Mr. Sci-Fi’s review:

New YouTube Subscription – Beerdy

September 2, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

I have added a new subscription in YouTube.

It is to “Beerdy – Bruce Lee Central“.

I was already watching some of his videos about (the incomparable) Bruce Lee. He has lots of people (Chuck Norris, Donnie Yen, Joe Rogan, Joe Lewis, Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard – my all-time favourite boxer) saying complimentary things about Bruce.

Beerdy says the following about himself: “I’m Beerdy. Former IFC champion and mixed marital artist” and also “I’m a professional restorer. Restoring Videos and audio”.

So I was already enjoying his stuff, and then I discovered that he also uploads videos about Terminator movies, Alien movies, and Star Trek Discovery. So that’s when I decided to subscribe.

Here is a link to a recent Beerdy video which features Bruce Lee’s mother and brother being interviewed many years ago:

Worst Movie Ever Made!

September 2, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

There is a certain relief that comes with knowing that you have watched the worst movie ever made. I did that just recently thanks to Netflix.

The worst movie ever made is called “Left behind” and stars (if that is the right word) Nicolas Cage. It scores 3.1 on IMDB (I wish I had checked that before watching it) and 2% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It is incredible to think that Cage won the best actor oscar back in 1995. His output recently has been infamously bad.

But the premise of the movie sounded interesting (“A small group of survivors are left behind after millions of people suddenly vanish and the world is plunged into chaos and destruction”) but everything about the movie is bad, bad, bad: story; dialogue; acting; directing.

Unfortunately the lovely Lea Thompson was also involved. She was nominated for best supporting actor for “Back to the Future” back in 1985.

Now there may be moves which have a lower score on IMDB. But I find it hard to believe that any of these had the budget of this movie, or had an oscar-winning actor. Some bad movies are even enjoyable, because you know that everyone is doing their best.

So I have to thanks Netflix for giving me access to the worst movie ever, and also the worst TV show ever: “The OA“.

I need never be afraid again!

Vermeer Exhibition

August 24, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

I went to see the “Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting” exhibition in the National Gallery here in Dublin the other day.

I would highly recommend it to anyone.

There are about 60 paintings in total with 10 being by Vermeer. But the exhibition groups the paintings together brilliantly to show the other Dutch artists who influenced and were influenced by Vermeer.

Be sure to get an audio guide!

Here is the only Vermeer which normally resides in Dublin (“Woman writing a letter, with her maid”) :

YouTube Subscriptions

August 24, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

I mentioned in my old blog that I can waste a lot of time on YouTube. It’s a real time sink.

But until recently I didn’t subscribe to anyone.

That has all changed now and I have subscribed to the following channels:

Ben Eater’s YouTube channel where he is building a computer using TTL chips. I mentioned this in a previous blog post.
The Coding Train by Daniel Shiffman. This guys is also a genius. He teaches coding in JavaScript (with p5.js) and Java (with Processing). Completely addictive. The first guy I have watched live-streaming on YouTube.
DK YOO. Genius martial artist from Korea. This guy has learned different martial arts and he is SOOOO fast. Just amazing.
StarTrekContinues. Star Trek fan films with (new actors playing) Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Very, very well done. The driving force behind it is Vic Mignogna. He plays Kirk and he also paid for the first episode out of his own savings! When I last mentioned this there were only five episodes. Now there are nine! They are only planning to make ten in total unfortunately now that CBS have issued new restrictions for fan films.
JoJo’s channel. She is a brilliant singer/song writer who has not had the success which she deserves.
Mr. Sci-Fi. This is my latest discovery and obsession. Marc Scott Zicree is a writer, producer, director who loves science fiction and who has a lot to say on the subject. He wrote episodes for ST: TNG, Babylon 5, ST:DS9 and lots more. He is making a new science fiction show called “Space Command“. Very interesting guy.

So basically I have gone from zero subscriptions to six very quickly!

Star Wars – Opportunity Missed

June 18, 2017 / adminPeter / 0 Comments

In 1977 a movie was released which changed movie-making forever. That movie was Star Wars.

Star Wars is one of my favourite movies of all time. I would have been 15 at the time I first saw it. I loved it so much that I went back to the cinema a few days later with a cassette recorded hidden under my coat so that I could record the audio for the entire movie! I still had that recording until a few years ago!

The genius behind the movie was George Lucas. He was the writer, director and exec producer.

The movie scores 8.7 on IMDB and many movie-makers have paid tribute to it as the movie which made them want to make movies.

In 1980, Lucas released the next episode and it has a slightly higher score on IMDB. Many fans say that it is their favourite of the series.

The third movie was released in 1983 and has a lower score, thanks (in my opinion) to the introduction of the cuddly but annoying Ewoks. But Lucas had released the first Indiana Jones movie by this time and his fame (and fortune!) were assured.

If we ignore TV (and there seem to have been quite a few things about Ewoks in the intervening years!), Lucas returned with Episode I in 1999. This movie introduced the first computer generated character: Jar Jar Binks. Like many fans, I HATED the Jar Jar character. People felt that (like Ewoks) he had been introduced to appeal to young children. Lucas reacted to the fans’ hatred by reducing Jar Jar’s role in Episode II. In Episode III he only had a few scenes and no dialogue.

But…

In October 2015, a Reddit user by the name of “Lumpawarroo” published a theory that Jar Jar was actually a Sith. I am including a video below which beautifully presents the evidence that this is in fact the case.

This is mind-blowing genius! It turns Episode I on its head. It dramatically changes the story arc for episodes I-III.

But unfortunately Lucas chicken out for some reason, introduced Count Dooku, and sidelined Jar Jar.

Such a pity. You are left to imagine the fabulous scene where Jar Jar’s true nature is revealed and he gets to fight with Yoda. How fantastic would that have been!

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